Timeline for How do I calculate the actual gravitational potential energy between two objects $m_1$ $m_2$ that are at zero distance?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 1, 2017 at 17:10 | comment | added | Bill N | At some point, the Newtonian model of gravity will break down. Other forces are much more important in atomic collisions, plus how do you say when two atoms collide? In nuclear collisions, the Coulomb and strong forces are much larger than the Newtonian gravitational force. If you want to do the calculation for Newtonian gravity, go ahead, but it's practically meaningless for those systems. | |
| Nov 1, 2017 at 10:13 | comment | added | rahulg | @BillN consider two atoms. Or say even two quark type particles | |
| Oct 30, 2017 at 16:10 | answer | added | StephenG - Help Ukraine | timeline score: 1 | |
| Oct 30, 2017 at 16:03 | comment | added | Bill N | If real objects collide they must have some size. How far apart are the centers of mass when the surfaces touch? for example, two spheres would be $r=r_1+r_2$ apart when they collide. | |
| Oct 30, 2017 at 16:03 | comment | added | Dr. Ikjyot Singh Kohli | Ahh.. The $r=0$ singularity in Newtonian gravity. :) | |
| Oct 30, 2017 at 15:59 | comment | added | Qmechanic♦ | More on singularities in Newtonian gravity. | |
| Oct 30, 2017 at 15:56 | history | edited | Qmechanic♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 4 characters in body; edited tags
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| Oct 30, 2017 at 15:54 | comment | added | MatMorPau22 | $r$ must be a distance and distance are always positive (so $r=0$ has no pyhsical sense, since it'll mean that both objects are on the exact same place). | |
| Oct 30, 2017 at 15:49 | history | asked | rahulg | CC BY-SA 3.0 |